English football pride restored



It's not all doom and gloom in English football, you know. There's still much to be proud of. Yes, English football leads the way in more than just overpaying foreign stars in our Premier League and continuing to tolerate the feral behaviour of our yob England stars.

Not Funny

Despite England's disaster show, we've an array of English representatives at the World Cup's business end. The biggest beneficiary of our failure to reach the Final is Howard Webb, the most famous son of Rotherham since The Chuckle Brothers.

 



Not Clever

He's been given the world's most prestigious job in upholding football's rules when Spain face Holland on Sunday. Webb joins Jack Taylor as an Englishman who refereed the World Cup Final. In Taylor's case, he was the man in the middle in 1974 as West Germany beat Holland.

And commercially, reports of England's demise are somewhat overstated as the FA announce three new sponsorship deals. Manager Fabio Capello presents England's new partners (pictured).

There's no truth in the rumour that Capello's command of English led to the deliberate misspelling of FUCK.

No fears Fab. There's always EURO 2012 to fail at too!

Surprisingly human looking eye

Meanwhile, it's been revealed that Paul The Octopus, the creature who can't stop correctly predicting the outcome of World Cup matches, is English too.

The eight-legged superstar hails from Weymouth in Dorset.

Rule Britannia!

Baggies looking for a sponsor - any sponsor!

By GREVILLE WATERMAN.

I was interested to read about West Bromwich Albion's efforts to sell their shirt sponsorship on a match by match basis.

Outside the Big 4, the football sponsorship market for club deals has collapsed. Clubs at all levels are finding it harder and harder to maintain even their current deals and price levels - and next to impossible to find new partners ready and willing to pay what was previously seen as the "going rate".

The only sector that seems to be active in this market is Betting Companies, on and off-line, and as I'm sure you all know, they're always looking for bargains, they smell blood in the water and won't pay top dollar.

I'm aware of what some of the clubs, particularly those outside the Premier League have been getting for their shirts and believe me, the figures do not make happy reading.

Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and I think a couple of others made the decision to donate their shirt to local charities - an excellent move but who knows how they would have responded to a good offer from a brand?
As for selling the shirt on a match to match basis, this might offer a decent opportunity on a tactical basis to a brand (like a TV match) as has been the case for non-league teams in the FA Cup (Northwich Victoria and others) but leaving aside the inconvenience and how the fans will react to seeing their shirt as no more than a type of rotating billboard I think it smacks of desperation.

A few years ago, Crystal Palace, who were in terrible financial trouble made a similar offer and my company sponsored their shirts for a one off game at QPR.

It was an excellent buy for us and was seen as providing some extra cash for a club on their uppers but I don't think it does much for a club like Albion, who are perceived as ambitious and challenging for promotion.

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Renaming St. James' Park? another Mike Ashley mess

By GREVILLE WATERMAN. This is well worth reading as Greville's been in the sports sponsorship game for a quarter of a century. Read on as he explains why Mike Ashley is no Dave Whelan!

As pundit Richard Littlejohn often says when faced with yet another example of the idiocy of everyday life - "you couldn't make it up".

Yes, our Keystone Cop friends at Newcastle United have even surpassed themselves with their idiotic announcement that they are seeking a Naming Rights Partner for St. James' Park.

Not content with trampling all over hundred years of heritage and tradition, they've decided for illustrative purposes only to attach the name of owner Mike Ashley's company and for the remainder of the season the stadium will instantaneously be known as Sportsdirect.com@stjamespark.

So where do we start in exposing this example of crass lunacy?

The concept of naming rights can be an extremely effective marketing tool but only if the name is attached to a new stadium.

For all the inherent sense of tradition of most Arsenal fans, The Emirates Stadium IS The Emirates just as St. James' Park IS and always WILL be St. James' Park.

Not content with ignoring marketing precedent and the laws of commonsense, the decision to attach a temporary name to the stadium totally beggars belief.

I cannot imagine that fans and the media alike will use the new convoluted name, and potential sponsors will take this into account when considering the viability of the proposition.

Also why on earth give the stadium another corporate name, however temporary, when you're looking for a new long-term naming rights partner - total madness.

This whole project seems to be an ill thought through and badly conceived bodge that has little or no chance of success.

Newcastle fans and even a local MP are up in arms at this local outrage, although I suspect they needn't worry - I can't see it coming to fruition.

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